Residents forced to leave condemned North End apartment building

BOSTON (WHDH) – A number of residents were forced from their homes in the North End after a five-story brick building that houses 24 apartments was condemned Wednesday night.

Boston Inspectional Services officials gathered at 464 Hanover St. and deemed the building unsafe, citing an array of structural concerns. It has since been roped off with yellow caution tape and makeshift barriers have been installed to guard the sidewalk from falling bricks.

“We don’t take lightly telling people they can’t go back into their apartments,” Inspectional Services Commissioner William Buddy Christopher said. “The deteriorated state had put us in such a position that I had no other choice but to do that.”

Officials say an engineering firm alerted them to the dangerous conditions.

A structural report stated that the building has the potential for a “catastrophic failure” due to the “deteriorating condition of steel beams.”

Christopher says the steel support beams had rotted out and rusted.

“It no longer was something that anyone could say was totally safe,” he said.

Crews plan to stabilize the building this week. Necessary repairs must be made before anyone can be allowed back inside.

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